SYBA PCI USB 2.0 & FireWire/1394a combo card Model SD-COMBO-02
A 10-pin USB header. Cut the yellow pin, i.e. pin 9, so it can take a 9-pin connection cable. If you screw up, don't blame it on me. You've been warned.
JPEG from Adeltek
This is a continuation of my Crappy PC hardware that works in Ubuntu
[WARNINGS: If you follow any of the instructions on this blog and cause some major or minor screw-up, like, but not limited to, PC blow-up or bodily harm or death, it's not really my problem. You have been warned.]
The Koutech thing can read like 1,000 different cards. Actually "card reader" is an understatement. This thing can write between media as well. I tested that at least on two different media types. I was able to copy and paste a 5MB file between a 4GB CF card and a 4GB USB drive, which took no time at all.. The thing comes with a mini CD and no paper documentation whatsoever.
Installation:
Let's get the Kingston 4GB USB drive out of the way. The thing doesn't need any installation. It's just plug and play. It's a FAT32 file system so I guess Linux is just fine with it. I am not that technical.
The Koutech card reader is a bit involved, meaning I have to open my beautiful big ass beige box. To secure it on my empty 3.5" bay and connect the USB cable to my existing USB card.
The reader has a USB cable that needs to plug in some USB header which I know I have but not exactly sure how. My USB card is the legendary SYBA PCI USB 2.0 & FireWire/1394a combo card Model SD-COMBO-02. Turns out the card has a 10-pin USB header. And the reader USB cable is for 9-pin. So I don't know which pin to cut in order to plug the cable into the header. The SYBA site generally lacks those information but they do have some not so active forums and someone is nice enough to post a link that leads to a picture indicating what pin to cut. You know a picture is really worth a thousand words. With that picture, I cut the extra 9th pin. And I plugged in the USB cable onto the card. I plug the USB card back onto the motherboard on a different PCI card slot which is closer to the card reader. Power up the box. And everything just works. Instead of using my D70 as a mass storage device to read my CF card, I can now just remove the CF card and plug that into the reader. The D70 is just USB 1.1 (12Mbps) so I am gaining some serious USB 2.0 (480Mbps) speed too. Plus the reader has the a front USB so that's convenient for some iPod and thumb drive action. My hp w2207 has two USB ports on the left side, access is not very good as I can't really see sideway.
Jaysus, this to me is hard-core computing already. Cutting an actual physical pin from the connector (or whatever you call the end bit of the cable) of your brand new gadget based on a jpeg from a little known forum and trying it on for size among the many bits and pieces of your motherboard is really beyond the limits of both my tech comprehension and blood pressure.
ReplyDeleteGlad you did get the thing to work finally.
Truth be told that, half of the time I don't know what I am doing, and the other half I am half asleep as I do my computer project at night.
ReplyDeleteI wish I were a real hardcore guy, just at least good at something.